giovanna fiore

“I started an internship in France,” she begins her story somewhat solemnly. “They pretty much took advantage of me. I was only peeling potatoes and onions. They told me again and again do not think you will ever become something or a somebody. You are a female in a kitchen, you will be working as a cafeteria lady for the next 30 years.”

Her eyes flash with emotions as she recalls the beginning of her culinary career. “I will show you, I remember thinking,” she continues. “I do not want people to think I am just a woman. Women have to fight harder to be taken seriously. I feel like I have always had to fight to be taken seriously. Because of my gender.“ “That is,” she finally lights up in a smile. “Until one day I talked to current head chef, Jesper Koch, and he said to me one day, you will be a major star. That really elevated me and made me decide I want to do everything I can to prove him right.

A culinary leap of faith

Born and raised in France, far from the quant Danish seaside town of Sønderborg where she now works for celebrity chef Jesper Koch, at Restaurant Syttende, Giovanna Fiore’s way to becoming a chef and a Rising Star contestant has proven quite a fight and a little more unorthodox that of many others. Owing in large parts to working conditions for female chefs in her home country, she explains.

“I have always enjoyed cooking, she says. “It has always been a dream of mine to work in the kitchen. But, as I grew up in France,” she explains, “it was not well seen to work in a kitchen. Working in a kitchen was seen as a route that people with bad grades would take. And this was not me at all, I was better than this, I thought, And I wanted to prove it.”

So, Giovanna tirelessly spent three years at university studying economy before eventually deciding to follow her heart, drop out and pursue her true passion in life. “University was not me at all. I spent all my time at home in the kitchen, practicing making desserts. I love desserts. It was not a well-seen thing to do, but it was my passion. Eventually, I took a leap of faith and went with my heart.”

The thing is, though, to pursue her dream of becoming a chef, she needed an internship and an internship in France was not a good idea, she quickly found out. Women, she learned, were not exactly respected in the restaurant kitchens of her native France, and if her experiences were anything to go by, she knew she would end up peeling onions and potatoes all day for years on end.

 So, rather than simply giving up or giving in, she started looking abroad. To Germany, England and Switzerland at first. Until, rather by accident, she heard that her uncle’s neighbor’s brother had worked in Denmark and really enjoyed it. “I called him up and before I knew it, I had a one-month internship at restaurant Bind – a Danish culinary institution in Kruså – which quickly turned not to two months and eventually an apprenticeship.

paving the way

“Christian Bind was the first chef to take me under his wings and he really helped me find myself in the kitchen” she recalls gratefully. “I worked with him for 2,5 years as a pastry chef only. However, I wanted to evolve my skillset and learn more. I got a job with Jesper Koch at Hotel Alsik and helped open their gourmet flagship, Restaurant Syttende. Here I got to work with meat and fish. I also did sweets and pastry.I really loved it, but I have expanded into the hot kitchen as well.”

It was while working at Syttende that Giovanna would spar with not only celebrity chef Jesper Kock, but also his head of the kitchen, Peter Rødsgaard, whom she speaks of fondly as her greatest culinary mentor and a friend. “Peter and I are basically the same person,” she smiles. “We are both very strict and demand precision. We work really well together, and he trusts me. Peter took me under his wing and was a good mentor. We are very tight. We are a family. This kitchen is where I have found my family. We can talk about everything, not just the job.”

what it takes to be a rising star

There is no doubt that catching her break in Denmark and particularly at Syttende under the watchful eyes of Jesper Koch and Peter Hulsgaard has helped build tremendous character in the young woman from France. Character and a skillset that has resonated within the industry and gathered her attention amongst other young talents of her field.

In late 2021, Giovanna Fiore was revealed, alongside Marc Kaalund from Restaurant Fru Larsen, Hans Kjellsson from Sushi Anaba and Magnus Carlsen from Alchemist to be amongst the four contestants for the prestigious Sol Over Gudhjem Rising Star cooking competition which takes place in the beginning of February.

This particular cooking competition, unlike many of its kind, aspires solely to highlight inspiring and upcoming talent and serves as a stepping stone for young chefs into a much broader world of competitive cooking. Furthermore, it is intended as an inspiration for new, young talents to take the plunge into a long and hopefully illustrious culinary career as chefs. So, how exactly does Giovanna, having fought her own way into the top field of young chefs, go about inspiring others?

“I want to show people not to give up,” she begins, her words burning with emotion. “You need to do everything you can to make this dream come true. I have started a whole new life in Denmark. I have sacrificed a lot to make my dream come true. I do not even see my friends in France anymore. Some people are born lucky. They get everything they want easily. Others really have had to fight and that is what I have done. I have fought for my passion. And it has been worth it.”

“I see my family perhaps once or twice a year, for a week or two at the most,” she reveals. “and I do not even see my friends in France anymore. I have no time. I am so into my work, my ambitions and dreams. I would do everything,” she smiles with determination, adding with an even softer smile that she knows work/life balance is important. “I know,” she admits, “but right now I am willing to give it my all and do what it takes. This is what I love, where I get my kick,”

“I love service more than anything, I love doing service. There is so much adrenaline rushing through you during service and failure is simply not an option. You cannot fail, you cannot mess up. Everything has to be perfect and consistent. I love cooking for other people and seeing how happy it makes them and thriving off the feedback, they provide. This is a dream come true,” she smiles again.

And maybe that is it. Maybe she has always been a dreamer. The girl from France whom nobody believed in at first. She has certainly come far. At Rising Star, she dreams to prove herself and go all the way, but even so, the dream does not end here for this up-and-coming talent. Far from it.

 “I want to, at some point, open my own restaurant. In my limited spare time, I make sweets. I have even played around with making business cards, logos, but I simply do not have the time right now,” she says, “as of right now I am spending all my time practicing and getting better. I love desserts but I want so much more than to just be a pastry chef.